Haggerty Museum hires Emilia Layden as curator

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Emilia P. Layden has been appointed associate curator at the Haggerty Museum of Art at Marquette University. Layden, who has been serving as interim associate curator since July, has organized a current exhibit from the museum's permanent photography collection called "Freedom Of/For/To" and an upcoming show, "Read Between the Lines: Enrique Chagoya's Codex Prints."

Layden was programming and exhibitions manager at Art Chicago and Next, annual art fairs in Chicago, where she ran education programs such as "Converge: Contemporary Curators Forum" and recurring exhibition series called "New Insight" and "Parisan."

Before working for the art fairs, she held posts at the Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago and at the Art Institute of Chicago, where she provided curatorial and research support.

Layden got her master's degree in art history from the University of Chicago with an emphasis on postwar American art, and she got her bachelor's degree in English and philosophy, with a minor in art history, at Boston College.

"Emilia is an interdisciplinary thinker and is well equipped to work collaboratively with our staff and the Marquette University faculty to create exhibitions that are relevant and responsive to the existing curriculum and the wider arts community," said Wally Mason, the museum's director and chief curator in a statement.

Layden succeeds Annemarie Sawkins, a longtime associate curator, who left the Haggerty in the summer after about 13 years in the post.

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Mary Louise Schumacher is the Journal Sentinel's art and architecture critic. She writes about culture, design, the urban landscape and Milwaukee's creative community. Art City is her award-winning cultural page and a community of more than 20 contributing writers and artists. Follow her on Facebook and Instagram.

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